Seems to slow 'em down when ya shoot 'em in the head.

Rating: 9/10 (9 July 2003)

A great flick. Certainly it has its roots in such films as Omega Man, Dawn of the Dead (esp. + NOTLD & DofD), The Last Man on Earth etc. But I dare you to do a zombie movie without referencing, intentionally or otherwise, those seminal pieces. It seems to have been produced on a less-than-Hollywood size budget and that works very well for it. It's a little more personally involving that way instead of assaulting you with constant pullbacks, zoom-outs and flash cuts to reveal everything that could possibly blow up... being blown up. Another plus: The drama is not solely derived from the evasion by our heroes and heroines of the infected "zombies." The film is richer and arguably darker for making the clever decision to reveal the most threatening villain in the second half of the film to be just plain old uninfected humans... not the zombies after all. Can you trust the human next to you to kill you? Can you trust him to keep you alive? Are you better off amongst the bent-on-destruction, one-track-mind zombies or in claustrophobic quarters with uninfected humans of uncertain morals and questionable ethics? There is room for many stories based on this film's basic premise... all manner of confrontations with the dead and alive can be created here. Luckily for us, Danny Boyle focused on some of the most intriguing tales to share with us. I hope his future work is balanced out with more material of a horrific, dark nature.